On Monday evening (July 11) the crew on board the private rescue ship Geo Barents announced on Twitter it was assigned a port for disembarkation.

"After almost five unnecessary days of waiting, our 314 survivors will disembark in the port of Taranto in Italy," tweeted the medical charity Doctors without Borders, MSF.

Before being rescued, some of the migrants on board had spent at least four days at sea "in distress without water and food," commented the crew.

Even though the Geo Barents had not been far from the Sicilian port of Augusta, it was assigned the Appulian port of Taranto, further east on the Italian mainland. MSF said that although it was "good news" they had been assigned a port, Taranto is "about 27 hours from our current location," which means another day at sea for the migrants on board.

Taranto is a large commercial port and is the main base for the Italian navy. It is situated at the top end of a large bay formed by the heel and the toe of the boot of Italy.

At the time of writing, the Geo Barents was east of the Calabrian coast, sailing slowly north-east towards Taranto, according to the marine traffic locator website.

More than 70 children on board

The Geo Barents crew say they have more than 70 children on board the ship. "After nearly drowning, the survivors are physically and emotionally exhausted." The children, added the crew "have already been through tragedies that no child should ever face."

A picture by one of the children, posted by MSF on Twitter, reads "Geo Barents ship I love you" alongside a drawing of the ship and lots of love hearts. Other drawings show fish, flying fish, birds and dolphins, alongside bright sunshine and palm trees.

Calls on Europe to activate search and rescue

MSF said they had made five requests to both Italy and Malta for a place of safety, before being granted the port of Taranto.

Last week, the Geo Barents crew brought 315 people on board the ship. On July 8, one of the migrants needed to be evacuated from the ship due to a medical emergency. "A survivor was suffering repeated seizures and needed specialized care," tweeted MSF.

The head of mission Juan Matías Gil, said on July 7, that the EU needed to reactivate a Europe-wide search and rescue mechanism and stop relying solely on the work of private rescue ships like the Geo Barents and Ocean Viking.

All the rescues last week reportedly took place in the Maltese search-and-rescue (SAR) zone. MSF said that the inactivity of the Maltese armed forces in their own SAR is "unacceptable."

Lost at sea

The last group of migrants rescued by the Geo Barents -- 65 people saved from a rubber boat -- crew also disembarked in Taranto on July 2. During that rescue, it is thought at least 30 people were missing, presumed dead.

"Some of the women on board said they lost their children in the sea," said MSF at the time. One woman, a 29-year-old pregnant woman from Cameroon died on board the Geo Barents just after she was rescued. Three migrants were also medically evacuated from the boat to Malta, including a mother and her litle girl.

At least five women and eight children are thought to have been among the 30 missing from that shipwreck. Four women lost at least one child and one woman lost both her children at sea.